I would think it might make a difference (as it so often does) whether you are trying to give it the pronunciation it would have in its language group of origin or it is being anglicized. Many people with the same last name, away from the name’s country of origin, pronounce it differently. Final e can be especially tricky. For instance, I know an American woman of Italian background whose last name is Mangone and who recognizes at least three pronunciations of the name.

In the U.S. it used to be normal to anglicize most names, meaning to pronounce them according to the rules and customs of English pronunciation. Somewhere along the road, with waves of immigration from certain areas and the advent of political correctness, it became more acceptable to try to retain the original pronunciation, or at least give it a sincere nod. Unfortunately this depends on (a) being able to infer the language of origin from a single instance and (b) knowing the pronunciation rules of all languages that might be the answer to (a). That is too much for most of us. You might think you know how to pronounce “Dave,” but if the owner is from Gujarat, you’re going to be wrong.

And then some people deliberately vary the pronunciation of their own names: I know a Renee who says “Reenie,” and we have Andrea (AN-drea and An-DRAYa), Jorge (George and HOR-hay), and so on. Sometimes the only thing to do is ask, and memorize each and every one.

I have always wanted to meet someone who said “My name is Mslyvwlczuisseviqkxi, but I pronounce it ‘Smith’.”

@Jeruba You have a point. Everyone here tries to call Cesar “see-zer” like Caesar salad. It’s actually “say-sar” in Spanish, but I guess it just sounds so foreign to the ears of English speaking people. I don’t know about other people, but I find it disrespectful to blatantly mispronounce a person’s name, especially once you’ve been told the correct way to pronounce it. It comes across as lazy and rude to me.